Fred Thompson Campaign: R.I.P.

Thompson's campaign was like a comet, it burned bright, it burned fast and it was gone in a flash. Well, maybe it didn't burn that bright...but its now definitely gone.

I don't think I have the patience to thoroughly evaluate his campaign's highlights, not that there were many, but I would like to note the loss of another fantastic spouse. We'll miss you Jeri!

Thompson in general, failed to gain enough momentum within the crowded GOP field and the loss in South Carolina sounded his death knell. Attempting to play the role of the Southern conservative, yet only able to round up 16% of the votes in South Carolina, meant the end to our favorite Actor-turned-policitian's campaign. (And by 'favorite' I mean, you know...behind Ronald Reagan, Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger, Jesse 'The Body' Ventura and George Clooney.)

You can read more on the news of Fred Thompson's demise here or here.

Fred Thompson on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Announces Candidacy for President

After months of political flirtation, Fred Thompson has finally and officially announced that he is a candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. Thompson, the ex-Tennessee Republican Senator from 1994 through 2003, remarked, "I am running for president of the United States" to much applause from the audience.

He came across as thoughtful and purposeful and was even relaxed enough to joke about his decision to attend the Tonight Show over the debates in New Hampshire. "No offense to New Hampshire but, it's a lot more difficult to get onto the Tonight Show than to get into the New Hampshire debate."

Directly after the show, Thompson was slated to go on his website (www.Fred08.com) for a 15 minute conversation in an attempt to further reach his potential voter audience, this time utilizing the online medium.

Read the full CNN article to learn more about his appearance. Below is his pre-announcement commercial:

And just for sport, check out this example of the online community's creative (and snarky) response to Fred's recent announcement waffling.

Jeri Thompson: Trophy Wife Or Web Pioneer?

A great article care of ePolitics:

Sunday’s fascinating Post profile of Fred Thompson’s wife Jeri contained a little glimpse of the Good Old Days of the early political Internet. Turns out, when they were first dating and her last name was still Kehn, she pitched him on a personal political website separate from his official Senate site:

On Aug. 5, 1997, Kehn sent Thompson’s Senate office a 12-page proposal to “design, develop, host and maintain a world-class multimedia Web site” at a cost of $45,000 per year. As her qualification for the contract, Kehn cited her job at a small Nashville firm that provided daily news summaries to health-care companies.

Two weeks later, Thompson’s staff sharply rejected the proposal, according to memos located by the Memphis Commercial Appeal in the Thompson Senate archives, stored at the University of Tennessee. “I consider this project technically vague and stunningly overpriced,” a staff member wrote.

Keep reading at epolitics.com

Poll: White Male Factor Helps White Male, John Edwards

Recent Rasmussen Reports polling shows that despite Hillary Clinton's lead in the Democratic Primary pack, she's behind John Edwards and Barack Obama in match-ups with Republicans. Today's poll puts Hillary Clinton neck and neck with Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani while a poll from last week puts John Edwards 11 points ahead against Fred Thompson and 7 points ahead against Rudy Giuliani. Even Barack Obama holds 6 point leads over both Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson, despite being a white male only in spirit. So when push comes to shove, is America ready for a female president, or just not Hillary?

Fred Thompson To Run For President in 2008

According to advisors, Fred Thompson has decided to run for President - and joins an already crowded GOP field that includes John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. Apparently a testing-the-waters committee is to be formed June 4 so Thompson can start raising money, staffers will go on the payroll in early June and a policy team has been formed - but remains under wraps in case Thompson changes his mind.

At the debate on May 3rd there were a scant 10 GOP candidates on stage and clearly, that's not nearly enough options. Will Thompson water down the GOP voter pool and further divide the party or is he the one to bring it home? Read more on this former Law and Order actor and Tennessee Senator to decide for yourself. Click here to learn more.